State of the Economy

Bob Bleyaert, who has retired from The Bank of Northern Michigan, was our speaker today and spoke about the economic forecast for 2016. He went back and forth about his predictions for last year versus the predictions for the upcoming year. Currently the state of the dollar is strong which is hurting our imports. He had predicted that unemployment would go down last year which it has. He states that currently the labor market is not that strong. He predicted that oil was too cheap last year and that the prices would rise and admits that he was incorrect about that. He predicted that the feds would raise the interest rates in June and was incorrect on that as well. The Stock market was essentially flat last year. His current predictions is that during the current weakening currency rates in many countries, that the feds will probably not raise the interest rates further. His current predictions are, during the current weakening currency rates in many countries, the feds will probably not raise the interest rates further. The oil prices continue to decline which is confusing as, the stock market goes down while, personal spending and corporate profits are up. He predicts that there will be continued weak growth because of the current conditions.